Employee worked 60-hour weeks covering for a coworker with a 'dying' mother. Then his browser revealed a month in Bali

When a person goes through a devastating personal crisis, most colleagues do whatever they can to support them. This was precisely the case for a small operations worker (u/new-distance5727) whose colleague, Dan, broke down in tears, announcing that his mother was battling a late-stage terminal illness abroad. To let him spend time with his mom, the company approved his leave and divided the workload among his coworkers. Despite working over 60 hours per week, the author didn't feel bad because, after all, they were helping a colleague during a difficult phase. But that changed after they accidentally discovered Dan's luxury Bali vacation plan on his personal browser. The story, shared on September 6, 2026, has received over 4,500 upvotes on Reddit. 

One heartbreaking request

The ordeal began when Dan walked into the office one day, visibly shaken. "My mother has been diagnosed with a severe, late-stage illness in another country," he told the manager. He further requested extended paid leave under the company's compassionate care policy. Moved by his grief, the company's officials approved it. They also paid him out in advance and split his duties among his colleagues. This ensured that the operations stayed afloat while Dan attended to his ill mother. "Since then, I’ve been working 60+ hour weeks," the author shared. Despite the stress, they kept working because they genuinely believed they were helping "a grieving friend through the worst time of his life."

The sick parent drama

However, the illusion shattered during a routine technical assignment when the author logged into Dan's existing workstation to organize a shared directory. It was at that moment they stumbled upon a web page left open on the screen. The page consisted of a travel itinerary for a month-long luxury vacation in Bali. More damning was the booking stamp showing the trip was arranged weeks before he requested leave from management. But perhaps the biggest giveaway was a message on the screen from his mother. 

"I saw a WhatsApp Web message on his screen from his mom, sent yesterday, asking him if he remembered to water her plants back at her house down the street," the author recalled. They immediately realized Dan had fabricated a sick parent story for his vacation.  With several weeks of Dan's supposed leave remaining, the author said they're unsure whether to expose him to management. On one hand, if they report it to HR, it would trigger a massive investigation into Dan, resulting in his firing and office drama. On the other hand, if they don't report it, they would have to drown themselves in work for another month.

The leave excuse

Well, workers making up lies for leave at work isn't new. In fact, one of the primary ways employees take leave is by calling in sick, and a CareerBuilder study found 40% of respondents have called in sick when they were well. Similarly, 28% had paid time off and felt they needed to make up an excuse to take a day off. Not everyone gets away with lies. That is because a striking 38% of employers check up on sick employees, with 26% firing employees over fake excuses. 

'Don't bother to save his job'

Most people, in the meantime, had extreme views about this entire situation. u/wawkaroo suggested, "Don't bother to save this person's job. I'm dying out here in the job market, an experienced manager, and supporting a special needs kiddo. I would never do anything close to this. He doesn't deserve to keep his job." Meanwhile, u/nughuffer1111 pointed out, "The problem isn’t the employee; it’s management for putting too much on too few people. If you had enough staff to handle the workload in the first place, people wouldn’t be overworked if one person left. Management is the problem that causes employees to resent each other."

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